The TV thing
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- August
- 30
My son still thinks it’s bizarre that I only had access to seven television channels when I was his age. Actually, we had nine channels if you count the two static-prone Spanish-language channels on UHF. Today my son has access to that many movie channels, not to mention the assortment of children’s channels like Cartoon Network, Nick and Disney.
For us, the debate over TV use in my home began before my son was born. I think every parent has at some point made a rule to limit or even eliminate television from their child’s life. There are certainly plenty of studies and reports cautioning on the extent to which television usage can negatively impact children. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for instance, has “an informative web page”:http://www.aap.org/family/mediaimpact.htm. Another thorough look at the subject is featured on the University of Michigan “child issues web site”:http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/tv.htm.
In truth, I’ve never been that severely opposed to television usage. I could certainly do with more outdoor time with my son, but I find that some of the channels my son is now drawn to are beneficial to him. He enjoys Discovery and the History Channel, for example. And a dose of cartoons doesn’t necessarily bother me. I do like to ensure that he gets ample reading time, as he does enjoy books, and that he gets his fix of outdoor time, be it with me or his mom, at camp or at school.
But I also feel that cartoons and age-appropriate children’s shows help provide a foundation for my son to socialize with other kids. Just like all his friends read the Harry Potter series, most watch the same shows and movies, and they have that in common. The question just becomes how much is enough, and how much is too much of that TV thing?
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon.
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I am a TV addict so i dont preach too much. The one thing is the video/comp games. So I do limit that .. but there’s a time and place for all day TV. and thst in the rain etc. otherwise on days like we have had.. outside! now!